“Here in Pennsylvania, nearly 63,000 men and women, including 8,100 miners, work in jobs supported by the coal industry.” Corbett said in a statement. “This proposal is not only a war on coal, as suggested by a White House climate adviser, but also a war on jobs.”

Pennsylvania is the fourth-largest coal producing state in the nation.

President Obama says he is directing the Environmental Protection Agency to complete carbon emissions standards for new and existing power plants.

Corbett’s statement cited other countries, such as China, as the driver behind much of the increase in global carbon emissions.

“This means that global warming requires a global response if there is to be any meaningful action that does not put our nation at an even greater competitive disadvantage,” Corbett said.

As StateImpact Pennsylvania has reported, the Corbett administration made news earlier this year when the former head of the state Department of Environmental Protection questioned the scientific consensus around climate change.

“There is no uniformity within the scientific community on how much the warming is occurring,” former DEP Secretary Michael Krancer told StateImpact Pennsylvania, “And there’s no agreement about how much is attributable to the human part of it and how much is attributable to other factors.”

In fact, there is widespread agreement about climate change within the scientific community.

Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic [man-made] greenhouse gas concentrations.

Michael Mann is a globally recognized climate scientist with Penn State University who has contributed to the IPCC’s reports. He praised the president’s proposals.

“It is the most aggressive and promising climate plan to come out of the executive branch in years,” Mann said in a statement. “[Obama's] call for carbon emission limits on all coal-fired power plants, not just newly built plants, is a bold step forward.”

In response the president’s speech, 41 state representatives sent a letter to Governor Corbett today, urging him to do more to address climate change.

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Comments

Julieann Wozniak

Let’s be honest. Corbett could not care a flying fig about Pennsylvania’s workers, given that he wholeheartedly supports his corporate masters’ union and middle class busting policies. What this is really about is Tom bowing and speechifying in support of those who own him.

KeepTapWaterSafe

Corbett is a fossil fool who seems to have no understanding of science.

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About StateImpact Pennsylvania

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration between WITF and WHYY. Reporters Katie Colaneri, Marie Cusick, and Susan Phillips will cover the fiscal and environmental impact of Pennsylvania’s booming energy economy, with a focus on Marcellus Shale drilling. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.